1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retractable bar for a tool and more particularly, to a press button-controlled retractable bar.
2. Description of the Related Art
To fit different application distances, regular hand tools (for example, garden shears) commonly provide a retractable design to enhance application convenience. For example, Taiwan Patent Publication Number 556480 discloses a retractable garden tool design, entitled “Improved structure of retractable handle for garden shears”. When the user presses the press button of the retractable garden shears, a positioning block of a sliding block will be disengaged from a locating notch of an inner tube, allowing movement of the sliding block with an outer tube relative to the inner tube to adjust the length of the garden shears. After the retractable bar is adjusted to the desired length, the user can release the press button, enabling the press button to be returned to its former position by a spring member to force the positioning block of the sliding block into engagement with another locating notch of the inner tube. Thus, the inner tube is locked to the outer tube in the adjusted position.
However, in the aforesaid prior art design, the press button and the sliding block is joined together by means of engagement between a retaining flange of a mounting shaft of the press button and a retaining hole of a column of the sliding block and the insertion of a pin through the mounting shaft into the bottom side of the retaining hole of the sliding block. Further, in the aforesaid prior art design, a limiter tube and a stop block are respectively plugged into the outer tube and the inner tube to prevent the inner tube from escaping out of the outer tube. Generally speaking, the aforesaid prior art design is composed of a large number of component parts, complicating the installation procedure and increasing the manufacturing cost.